In May 2019, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency decided to set the minimum level for wolves in Jämtland County for a rejuvenation, ten wolves.
The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency has the task of establishing minimum levels for the presence of bears, wolves, wolverines and lynx in the predator management areas and in the counties included in the areas.
Sami villages appealed
Three Sami villages in the county appealed the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's decision and requested a reconsideration.
The Sami villages believed that the decision caused great damage to the reindeer herding industry and that it violated the reindeer herding Sami's right to their culture and property.
The Sami villages also believed that wolves already today cause great damage to reindeer herds and that an increased need for protection hunting leads to increased costs.
The decision was based on EU directives
But from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, it was emphasized that the decision is made for Sweden to live up to the requirement that the wolf must have a favorable conservation status according to the EU species and habitat directive.
A national inventory that showed where wolves already existed, led to the authority's decision to establish rejuvenations.
No room to make another assessment
The Administrative Court in Stockholm County now had to decide on this.
The court's decision ended up in the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency making a correct assessment and that there is no reason to reconsider the decision.
- Even considering the extensive difficulties of the reindeer herding Sami villages, there was therefore, in view of how the complicated regulations in the area are designed, no room to make a different assessment than the one made by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, says Håkan Åberg, Chief Adviser at the Administrative Court in a press release.
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